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Hello, please help me with information what is eating the leaves of my lilac. Looks like leaf-cutter bees, but I haven't seen any bees around and there is white substance at the edge of the holes that looks like bacteria. I haven't noticed the holes before ( I water the lilac regularly) so it is possible that all the holes appeared within the last couple of days.
thank you in advance!
The holes do look like leafcutter bees, I wouldn't worry about them. They don't harm plants and are beneficial to have around, and they're also only active chewing leaves for a short period of time while they build their nests. But your leaves also look a little curled & droopy which would not be due to the leafcutters & could indicate a different problem--not sure what though. Can you post some additional pictures of the plant?
well, after the rain the white substance disappeared so it seems it is really a leaf cutter bee. As for the curled up leaves - these particular branch is dying, but the rest of the tree is ok. I appreciate that the bees ate the most from the dying branch :)
The white stuff you saw around the edges was probably just a bit of dried up leaf "juice" (for lack of an appropriate botanical word for it) that oozed out a bit when the leaf was chewed.
